Metabolic CEST MRI of glucosamine uptake in brain tumor-bearing mice

Metabolic CEST MRI of glucosamine uptake in brain tumor-bearing mice | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Metabolic CEST MRI of glucosamine uptake in brain tumor-bearing mice Yaniv Yosha, Michal Rivlin, Gil Navon, Or Perlman This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9178947/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 4 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Increased reliance on anaerobic glycolysis is a hallmark of cancer metabolism that is traditionally used by FDG-PET for lesions and metastases detection. Glucose-based chemical exchange saturation transfer (glucoCEST) MRI offers an alternative, non-radioactive approach for characterizing metabolic changes. In this context, glucosamine (GlcN), a safe dietary supplement, has recently demonstrated favorable bio-distribution and contrast-enhancing properties suitable for cancer imaging both in rodents and in human subjects. However, results are currently limited to breast cancer and to healthy mouse brain. Here, we investigate the ability of CEST MRI to detect and characterize GlcN uptake in brain tumors in vivo. A GL261 glioma mouse model was imaged with a 7T scanner at baseline and at 8 and 16 minutes after intravenous GlcN administration. CEST contrast was quantified using the area under the magnetization transfer ratio asymmetry curve (MTRasym AUC) and multi-pool Lorentzian fitting. Sixteen minutes following GlcN injection, a statistically significant increase in the hydroxyls (OH) CEST signal was observed in the tumor region compared to the contralateral region (p = 0.0413, AUC; p = 0.0046, OH fitted Lorentzian amplitude). These findings suggest that GlcN-based CEST imaging may offer a biocompatible method for brain tumor characterization. Health sciences/Biomarkers Biological sciences/Cancer Health sciences/Medical research Biological sciences/Neuroscience Health sciences/Oncology Full Text Additional Declarations Competing interest reported. M.R. and G.N. are inventors on a related patent application (US10905783B2).The authors declare no other competing financial interests. Supplementary Files supportinginformation.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 24 Mar, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 23 Mar, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 23 Mar, 2026 First submitted to journal 20 Mar, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9178947","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":609776870,"identity":"3a6a31f9-d4c1-4afd-8871-d60fe46813e7","order_by":0,"name":"Yaniv Yosha","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Tel Aviv University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yaniv","middleName":"","lastName":"Yosha","suffix":""},{"id":609776871,"identity":"a6705325-93a7-45ec-9307-ff5cb139b78c","order_by":1,"name":"Michal Rivlin","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Tel Aviv University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Michal","middleName":"","lastName":"Rivlin","suffix":""},{"id":609776872,"identity":"12f18e5b-6858-46bf-924a-3227fa1d588d","order_by":2,"name":"Gil Navon","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Tel Aviv University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Gil","middleName":"","lastName":"Navon","suffix":""},{"id":609776873,"identity":"8359d2d8-0be4-40a2-8f21-df4f1c30cea7","order_by":3,"name":"Or Perlman","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABAElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYNCCAiBmb0AV4+HDq8UApOQwVClMCxtBLRLJqFoYcGnhlz578HGFwTZ5c8n3Bz/zVBxmsGc/Y8Dwo4ZBBpcWyb68ZMMzBrcNd85OZpbmOZPGwMOTY8DYcwy3wwzO8JhJNhjcZtxwO5lBmrfNBuiwHAMG3ga8Wsx/ArXYb7h5mPk37z8JBh7+NwaMf/FrMWMEaknccIOZTZq3AWiLRI4BMz5bJHv4kkEOS95wJtnMcs6xNB6eG88KDssck8CphZ+H9+DHhorbthuOH3x8403NYTn2/uSND9/U2Njz49CCFA9I3APAaMKpAUPLKBgFo2AUjAIMAADH0EsU12SyqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Tel Aviv University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Or","middleName":"","lastName":"Perlman","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-20 12:38:19","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9178947/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9178947/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":105563647,"identity":"29cfb1d4-53c7-410d-8b14-791351241dc7","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-27 12:47:21","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":765344,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"glucosaminebraintumormicepaper.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9178947/v1_covered_a19ef769-5e16-4693-aa83-e66b3fd58ff9.pdf"},{"id":105180214,"identity":"1136c9b8-c3a5-49d9-b6f2-9347a15da90e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-23 07:12:42","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":780348,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"supportinginformation.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9178947/v1/f34bf43840558787fccb7097.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"Competing interest reported. 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Glucose-based chemical exchange saturation transfer (glucoCEST) MRI offers an alternative, non-radioactive approach for characterizing metabolic changes. In this context, glucosamine (GlcN), a safe dietary supplement, has recently demonstrated favorable bio-distribution and contrast-enhancing properties suitable for cancer imaging both in rodents and in human subjects. However, results are currently limited to breast cancer and to healthy mouse brain. Here, we investigate the ability of CEST MRI to detect and characterize GlcN uptake in brain tumors in vivo. A GL261 glioma mouse model was imaged with a 7T scanner at baseline and at 8 and 16 minutes after intravenous GlcN administration. CEST contrast was quantified using the area under the magnetization transfer ratio asymmetry curve (MTRasym AUC) and multi-pool Lorentzian fitting. Sixteen minutes following GlcN injection, a statistically significant increase in the hydroxyls (OH) CEST signal was observed in the tumor region compared to the contralateral region (p\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.0413, AUC; p\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.0046, OH fitted Lorentzian amplitude). 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